Google Reveals Skyrocketing US Data Requests

The U.S. government once again heads the list of those requesting data from Google, and lately it's been asking for a lot more.

Google's Transparency Report, a twice-a-year reminder of how often governments ask for information, says that the U.S. submitted 10,918 requests for 21,683 user accounts during the first half of 2013. U.S. requests had the highest rate of compliance, with Google forking over user information more than 80 percent of the time.

The total number of U.S. requests has more than doubled since 2009, when Google first started tracking such statistics.

With between 2,000 and 3,000 requests apiece, India, Germany and France rounded out the top four.

Smartphones Dial Down Sex Drive, Doctor Says

The doctor -- whose surname, no joke, is Wang -- says that there has been an increase in the number of men with ED in recent years, including those whose age should, in theory, protect them from the problem.

The culprit, Wang claims, is the libido-eroding power of smartphones.

This is not the first time smartphones have been linked to health problems. Over the summer, South Korean doctors
linked
smartphones to the early onset of dementia.

Lenovo Claims Third in Chinese Smartphone Pecking Order

Chinese PC maker Lenovo has moved into third place in China's hypercompetitive smartphone market.

Now, things are still dominated by Apple and Samsung, but Lenovo, buoyed by an 84.5 percent jump in shipments from a year earlier, now has a 5.1 percent share of the market, compared to 4.1 percent last year.

Europe Relaxes In-Flight Electronics Rules

The European Aviation Safety Agency has published less-stringent guidelines pertaining to the use of electronics during flights. The new rules will allow for the use of devices during takeoff and landing, heretofore no-nos in Europe.

The U.S. published similar rules last month.

The new rules aren't a total green light. Passengers will still be required to stay in "airplane mode," precluding the use of both voice and text services.